Reviewer Mary Lignor: Mary
is a retired librarian, originally from Connecticut but now living in
New Mexico. All her life Mary has loved books and has passed this
love on to her daughters. Mary started working in a library when her
children were young as an Assistant Librarian and ended up as its
Director. Her favorite books are suspense, political intrigue and
anything involving the World War II era.

John and his girlfriend, Nadia, were
victims of the demented "Hammer of God" killer who struck
out in Jersey City, NJ in the summer of 1984. The murderer was
obsessed with killing young couples attempting to "save their
souls." Sadly, Nadia was killed by the first blow of the
"Hammer". John just barely survived but was damaged both
physically and psychologically to a degree that no one could
understand. He did not want anything to do with the people he knew
and hid out in his home. He comes out of his apartment only to do his
job as a crime researcher for a newspaper. John may be damaged by his
experiences but no one in the vicinity understands more about serial
killers than he does.

When a new series of killings start,
they seem at first to be random acts but very obsessive. This killer
is killing on the anniversary dates of famous serial murders from
previous years. The murders increase and each killing is almost an
identical copy of another famous death including all the details of
the previous crimes. John is the one who finally figures out what's
going on. That these are not isolated incidents and are being
perpetrated by a single person. And, as John almost lost his life to
a serial killer and did lose his girlfriend he has studied their
habits and can understand their minds. He has some cohorts who agree
including Ray Irving, an NYPD cop who finds that chasing a bold and
very intelligent killer is no walk in the park; Karen Langley, a
crime reporter, who is so good at her job that she is walking a fine
line between life and death; along with John they are on the trail
and hoping to catch up with this murderer who wants to be as well
known as "The Zodiac Killer."

From the stimulating
beginning of this book to the astonishing end, The Anniversary Man
will pull you in and not let go until you put the book down at its
finish. The three main characters are so believable and their give
and take with each other is real. I really liked this novel and
although Mr. Ellory is a British author and has not had many books in
the US, I'm sure you will be hearing and seeing his name a lot in the
not to distant future.